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Will the New Jersey Nets finish with the worst NBA record ever?

January 26, 2010 | 2:59
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Reporters from around the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get a chance to chime in and tell them why they are wrong.

Mark Heisler, Los Angeles Times

Will the Nets break the 76ers record for worst season, 9-73? Let's put it this way, they better not. These guys, who went into Tuesday's loss, er game against the Clippers on a 6-76 pace that that would not only break but shatter the record, should win 20 games standing on thier heads. Oh, they are standing on their heads?The Nets have rising stars Devin Harris and Brook Lopez--a seven-foot center and a point guard, filling the two most important slots--with more highly regarded prospects like Yi Jianlian, Terrence Williams and Chris Douglas-Roberts. If they win six, seven, eight, nine or 10, someone should get fired. Oh, someone already was? Coach Lawrence Frank went at 0-16, with Harris having missed them all and Yi playing only the first four. GM Kiki Vandeweghe, taking over at 0-18 at the request/demand of team president Rod Thorn, made a stunning coaching debut, winning two of his first three, but everyone then nodded off again. Even with Harris and Yi back, they lost 21 of their next 22.There's no question that new owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who takes over after the season, will clean house. Happily, it's not like his native country in the old days, or he might have everyone taken out and shot.

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel

The Nets will be spared the infamy because of the refuse that accompanies New Jersey at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Friday, for example, the Wizards arrive at the swamp packing neither heat nor Gilbert Arenas. Two games beyond that remain against Washington, which likely will be further deconstructed by the trading deadline. Sunday, there is the first of two remaining games against the 76ers, coached by a coach who was dumped by those same Wizards in the offseason. Factor in three remaining games against the team formerly known as the Pistons, as well as matchups against the Bucks, Knicks, Kings and Pacers, and a few accidental victories figure to show up along the way. Oh, the Nets certainly will rank among the historically bad. But give Brook Lopez and Devin Harris credit, they'll find a way to crack double digits.